Housing completions at 7 year high
The number of newly built homes continues to rise and is now at the highest level since 2008 to 2009, new figures show.
The number of newly built homes continues to rise and is now at the highest level since 2008 to 2009, new figures released today (26 May 2016) show.
139,690 new homes were completed in the year to March – a rise of 12% on the previous year.
And the latest house building figures also show that the number of new homes started is also at its highest level since 2007 to 2008.
139,680 homes were started in 2015 to 2016. This continues the upward trend as both starts and completions have continued to grow gradually for the last 2 years.
Housing and Planning Minister Brandon Lewis said:
We’ve got the country building again and are seeing our housebuilding efforts paying-off with this considerable increase in the number of homes built in just 1 year.
This is real progress but there is more to do. That’s why we are going further and increasing our investment in housebuilding to ensure many more hard-working people can benefit.
Housebuilding growth across the country
Today’s figures show strong regional growth in Wakefield and London experiencing high levels of completions.
Delivery in London saw 32% more homes being built in 2015 to 2016 than the previous year with local authorities in Basildon and Haringey seeing completions soar 279% and 1039% respectively over the same period.
And in Wakefield completions were up 59%, from 1,028 to 1,634.
Figures published in November 2015 show that the total number of new homes across the country rose by 25% in 2014 to 2015 when taking into account all homes, including new builds, houses that have been converted into flats and buildings whose use has been changed to residential.
The government’s landmark Housing and Planning Act will also help deliver on its ambition to build a million more homes.
The Act will ensure local authorities continue to play an important role in delivery, and new measures will allow them to provide more homes more swiftly.
Further information
The House building in England: January to March 2016 statistics record the number of new build homes completed and started during the quarter January to March. It uses data sourced from building control officers at local authorities, the National House Building Council and independent inspectors.
This differs from the data sources used in the Net supply of housing in England: 2014 to 2015, which cover all new homes, including new builds, homes that have been divided into flats and change of use from commercial to residential.
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